Han Kuang exercises to be held April 22-26, retired Admiral Samuel J. Locklear expected to lead US observer delegation

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/04/07
By: Duncan DeAeth, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense (MND) is preparing for the

upcoming 35th annual Han Kuang (漢光) military exercises to be held April 22 to April 26.

As in years previous, a delegation from the United States will join as observers. This year the U.S. group is expected to be headed by retired admiral and former USPACOM Commander, Samuel J. Locklear.

Locklear is an expert in surface warfare operations and is familiar with Taiwan’s tactical situation, having served as USPACOM Commander from 2012 to 2015.

UDN reports that the Han Kuang exercises will consist of Taiwanese military units divided into a Red Force and Blue force. The Red Force, under the command of the President of the Taiwan National Defense University, will initiate a mock attack on Taiwan.
[FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/04/07
By: Huang Guo-fang, Wu Chia-hao, Wu Hsin-yun,
Emerson Lim and Elizabeth Hsu

Taipei, April 7 (CNA) A gas explosion occurred at a petrochemical plant in the Formosa Plastic Group (FPG) Mailiao No. 6 Naphtha Cracker complex in Yunlin County Sunday, causing a fire but no casualties, according to an FPG executive.

The accident occurred at an aromatics production factory run by Formosa Chemical and Fibre Corp., an FPG subsidiary, at about 2 p.m., with a large explosion followed by a dense plume of smoke rising into the sky, local firefighters said.

The fire was reported to Yunlin County Fire Fighting Department at 2:05 p.m. and fire trucks and ambulances from several brigades were dispatched to the scene.

When they arrived 20 minutes later, a fire was blazing, the firefighters said, adding that the initial explosion was heard by people living up to 6 kilometers away.
[FULL  STORY]

SURVEILLANCE KEY: The criminal ring allegedly planned to smuggle ketamine in a fishing vessel to try to make huge profits at the Spring Scream music festival

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 08, 2019
By: Jason Pan  /  Staff reporter

The boarding of a fishing vessel suspected of transporting contraband turned into the

largest marine seizure of illegal drugs so far this year, the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) has announced.

Labels on the packages containing 320kg of ketamine, shipped as tea leaves, had simplified Chinese characters, so the cargo is suspected to have originated in China, CGA Investigation Branch deputy chief Ruan Wen-chieh (阮文杰) said.

The boarding was conducted on Thursday last week at the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands, 東沙群島), about 200 nautical miles (370km) southwest of Kaohsiung Port, Ruan added.

Test results showed that the packages contained ketamine with an estimated street value of about NT$320 million (US$10.38 million), he said.

“Surveillance indicated that a criminal ring had plans to smuggle ketamine in a fishing vessel to try to make huge profits by selling ketamine pills to revellers at the Spring Scream music festival,” Ruan said.    [FULL  STORY]

The ministry denies Washington has halted the sale while a trade deal is negotiated with China

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/04/06
By: Ryan Drillsma, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) denies that U.S. President Donald Trump has temporarily shelved plans to sell Taiwan F16-V fighter jets until a trade deal is agreed with China.

Three Washington officials told TIME Magazine Thursday (April 6) that the sale will be put on hold, although Taiwan officials are confident it will go through once the U.S. and China seal an agreement.

Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense applied to buy 66 F16-V fighter jets at the recommendation of the U.S. government on February 27. The sale would be the first time Taiwan has bought F-16s from the U.S. since 1992.

The U.S. National Defense Authorization Act stipulates the Secretary of Defense must respond to a request for defense articles within 120 days.    [FULL  STORY]

Focus Taiwan
Date: 2019/04/06
By: Huang Huei-min and Ko Lin

Kinmen, April 6 (CNA) Dubbed “blue tears” by local residents, the mysterious sparkling blue light that can be spotted along the shore of Kinmen during spring, has become a major tourist attraction for the outlying county.

According to the Kinmen County Fisheries Research Institute, this natural phenomenon was first observed a long time ago, but has only became a popular tourist attraction since the county opened up its coastline to tourists in recent years.

“Blue tears” are formed when clusters of marine algae, disturbed by the crashing waves, glow a bioluminescent blue, and only prevalent in warm sea water between the months of April and May, said Li Chia-fa (李家發), a head researcher at the institute.

In the past, “blue tears” were associated not with Kinmen but Matsu, which was thought to be the only location where it occurred, the institute said.    [FULL  STORY]

UNIVERSITY IMPACT: The Hualien-based institute was No. 67 worldwide based on measurements of how well it did on 11 of the UN’s 17 sustainable development goals

Taipei Times
Date: Apr 07, 2019
By: Staff writer, with CNA, LONDON

Hualien-based Tzu Chi University led 12 Taiwanese universities that made the Times

Higher Education’s first-ever global university impact ranking, which were published on Thursday.

The University of Auckland topped the measure of institutes’ social and economic impact, with a score of 97.2 in the survey, which covered 462 universities from 76 countries, the Times Higher Education Web site said.

McMaster University in Canada was second, followed by the University of British Columbia in Canada and the University of Manchester in the UK, which were tied for third.

Tzu Chi University was the highest-ranked Taiwanese university at 67th — 10th in Asia — with an overall score of 80.1, while National Taiwan University (NTU) ranked 70th overall and 11th in Asia with a score of 79.7.    [FULL  STORY]

Radio Taiwan International 
Date: 05 April, 2019
By: John Van Trieste

The Presidential Office is preparing to host a public music festival on Saturday.
The Presidential Office is gearing up to host a concert in downtown Taipei on Saturday night.

This will be the first concert hosted by the office to allow unrestricted access to the public. Groups and organizations helping disadvantaged citizens will bring those who might not otherwise have access to concerts. In addition, the ambassadors of eleven allied nations and representatives from 23 other countries are scheduled to attend.

The show will combine music with visual displays. These will feature animation and scenes from the late photographer Chi Po-lin’s cinematic masterpiece “Beyond Beauty: Taiwan from Above”. These displays will be shown on a hundred-meter-long screen made up of 150,000 LED lights.    [FULL  STORY]

Taiwan English News
Date: April 5, 2019 
By: Phillip Charlier  

The driver of a tour bus will face a fine of between NT$600 and NT$1,800 (US$16 – US$58), after a overtaking over double-yellow lines on a blind bend in a mountain district of Nantou County two days ago.

The driver, who caught the act on dash-cam, was forced to brake hard, and swerve her car into the guardrail to avoid a head-on collision with the tour bus.

Shortly before 2:00pm on Wednesday, April 3, Ms Zhong was driving on Provincial Highway 14, in Renai Township, when a bus traveling uphill suddenly appeared on the wrong side of the road. The dash cam footage showed that the bus driver was overtaking several vehicles while traveling around two blind curves.

Ms Zhong braked and swerved to avoid being hit by the bus, scraping her car on the concrete guardrail.    [FULL  STORY]

Police arrested 32-year-old suspect

Taiwan News
Date: 2019/04/05
By: Matthew Strong, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

The stolen truck at the scene of the accident in Hsinchu City. (By Central News Agency)
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – An 87-year-old man who died in Hsinchu City after being hit by a stolen truck early Friday morning turned out to be a brother of former Central Bank Governor Perng Fai-nan (彭淮南).

Perng, 80, retired from the bank in February last year after heading the institution for 20 years, during which he frequently received the accolade of ‘Best Central Banker in the World.’

Just before 5 o’clock Friday morning, a blue truck made an illegal turn at an intersection, attracting the attention of the police, the Apple Daily reported.

The driver refused to stop and tried to escape, in the process hitting a motorcyclist and two parked cars at the next intersection before fleeing on foot. He was apprehended in a nearby alley and identified as Chang (張), aged 32. The man had stolen the truck, police said.    [FULL  STORY]